Merkur 34C Double Edge Razor

After shaving for well over 20 years with a variety of cartridge razors, I finally decided that it was time to do it properly and shave like it’s 1880. :-S

Merkur-34c Double Edged Razor

So, after spending an inordinate amount of time looking into the ‘art’ of shaving I took the proverbial plunge and purchased this little beauty – the Merkur 34c Double Edged Safety Razor.

Created by Merkur, a well-respected name in the shaving world, this is a fairly heavy, simple razor in which the unscrewing of the knurled bottom (the bit at the top right of the image) means the entire top bit slides up (the smooth bit bottom left). revealing a couple of lumps, over which the razor blade itself fits.

Thus your weapon will be primed for the ‘pleasure’ of peeling your face. :paint:

The razor itself was surprisingly smaller that I thought it would be, and heavier too. Two points in its favour as I would come to realise as I get better at using it, it’s highly agile and you really don’t have to press at all to get a good shave. The textured surfaces on the handle also help with gripping it when it gets wet, so dropping it doesn’t seem to be an issue.

Now personally at this point I decided against the advice of the masses, and plumped for some shaving cream from a can – specifically the Nivea For Men Sensitive Shave Gel, as I knew that this stuff didn’t irritate my face and produces quite a nice lather (something which is insisted on by ‘shaving gurus’ apparently). Read below – I have something better now!

Trepidation built as I warmed my beard, lathered my face and employed some of the techniques I had learned from the numerous YouTube videos of men shaving.

What a revelation!

If it helps – and this coming from a cheap Yorkshireman – it will also save you £££s as the blades and accompanying paraphernalia are considerably cheaper than those stupidly prices cartridges I used to use.

Although I took my time for the first shave (several passes in varying directions), I was amazed by the overall quality of the shave. For the first time ever, I managed to get a clean, ‘Babies Bum’ smooth shave. I only cut myself a few times, so I guess my technique needs some work… 😳

I really am impressed by this little gem. It’s overall size is small and compact, but the results it gives are simply amazing. Apparently you can get better results by testing a few other blades with this, but I have yet to try any, something I will be correcting in the upcoming weeks.

Shaving has now become something to enjoy and take pleasure from (except the bleeding part), taking time over something as simple as a shave is not something I have ever done, but now I really do enjoy taking my time and shaving the old chin.

#Update#

I recently added to my shaving kit with The Bluebeards Revenge White Shaving Cream and Badger Brush Gift Set, as my first foray into the brush technique – this only made things better, though the freebie aftershave balm stuff is not as good as the King of Shaves moisturiser, the cream and brush make you beard stick out. All the easier to shave! 😎

My advice – get something like this razor, a reasonable shaving brush (The Bluebeards Revenge do a reasonable one for a reasonable price), a variety pack of blades, a cream you can trust and YouTube for the technique and I hope you’ll be as impressed as I was.

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Simon Rochester is an IT geek, with a passion for all things tech. Over the years I have worked for companies large and small and have been running Rochester & Associates Ltd for over 15 years. I like various things in life, including cycling, reading and learning about my beloved technology.